Area Farm & Ag Headlines

MANKATO, MN – October 1, 2013- The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) has voiced its support for a recommendation by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to move the state to a ten percent biodiesel inclusion rate in every gallon of diesel sold in Minnesota. The notice appears in the September 30, 2013 edition of the Minnesota State Register.

“Biodiesel has been shown to be great for the environment and the economy,” says George Goblish, MSGA president. “It’s common sense to keep moving forward with biodiesel because it has been proven to work. It’s a win for air...

At a Special Meeting of Smithfield shareholders held today, more than 96% of the votes cast were voted in favor of the transaction, which represents approximately 76% of Smithfield's total outstanding shares of common stock as of the record date...

ST. LOUIS (Sept. 19, 2013) - Following this Thursday's vote in the House of Representatives on the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, the American Soybean Association called on the House to quickly name its conferees with the Senate and get to work reconciling the farm and food legislation in the two chambers. The House bill represents the nutrition portion of farm legislation split off earlier this summer in an attempt to pass individual, freestanding bills. ASA President Danny Murphy, a soybean farmer from Canton, Miss., issued the following statement:

(St. Paul, MNCorn.org) -- Leaders of a 20-member delegation from Taiwan signed a letter of intent during a ceremony today at the Minnesota state capitol to purchase an estimated $1.83 billion worth of U.S. corn and corn co-products in 2014-15.

The letter -- also signed by Gov. Mark Dayton and Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) president Tom Haag – declares the Taiwan Feed Industry Association’s intent to purchase about 197 million bushels of corn and 500,000 metric tons of corn co-products such as dried distillers grains (DDG).

(Washington, DC) -- Tuesday evening, Representative Tim Walz (Minnesota) and Senator Al Franken (Minnesota) were awarded the Golden Triangle Award by the National Farmers Union (NFU) for their strong support for agriculture policy and family farmers across southern Minnesota.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this award from the National Farmers Union,” Representative Walz, Ranking Member of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry, said. “We must continue to push House leadership to appoint a conference committee so an agreement can be reached on a...

(MNSoy.com) -- In 2007 MnSP entered into a Management Services Agreement with Bunge North America, Inc.

In the terms of that agreement Bunge N.A. assisted MnSP in developing its own management and financial team and provided MnSP commercial and risk management services. That agreement was very beneficial to both MnSP and Bunge N.A.

In the last 6 years MnSP has grown and matured beyond what many had thought possible. Much of the credit for this goes to the hard work and dedication of the employees, management and directors of MnSP. Credit is also due to the knowledge and...

WASHINGTON — Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin today pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to extend the time for farmers to take advantage of emergency haying.

In a letter to Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the senators wrote, “While we are thankful the emergency release of CRP acres was approved, farmers were left with essentially only two days to cut, dry, and bale hay to meet the deadline for the program. That unreasonably short timeframe prevented many farmers from baling any hay under the emergency CRP release. Therefore, these producers did not...

Cattle feed additive Zilmax has been pulled by its New Jersey-based drugmaker Merck Animal Health as of Friday, AUgust 16th. In a statement, they said:

At Merck Animal Health, the health and well-being of animals is our first and foremost priority. We also take very seriously our commitment to providing safe, effective products that are developed based on comprehensive research, rigorous testing and sound science. We believe in the science that supports Zilmax and are confident in its safety and performance. Reinforcing this science and data-based approach, Merck Animal Health has...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Two recent legal decisions have found a Stearns County farmer improperly handled and illegally sold food without a license.

Last week a Stearns County jury found Alvin Schlangen guilty of five misdemeanor counts of food handling and storage, including failure to have a food handler’s license, improperly storing eggs at the correct temperature and misbranding food.

The charges stemmed from a Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) investigation that began in 2009 when Schlangen was found to be illegally selling raw milk, meat, poultry and other food...